Tapered roofing shingle



March 27, 1934. H, c. AVERY TAPERED ROOFING SHINGLE Originall Filed Feb. 16. 1925 Patented Mar. 27, 1934 TAPERED ROOFING SHINGLE Henry C. Avery, New Brunswick, N. J., assignor, by mesne assignments, to The Patent and Licensing Corporation, Boston,

Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Original application February 16, 1925, Serial No. 9,483. Divided and this application May 26,

1930, Serial N0. 455,658.

4 Claims.

This application is a division of my application Serial No. 9,483, led February 16, 1925, which is now Patent 1,802,494, granted April 28, 1931. The invention relates to a tapered roofing shingle which may be eut from a slab comprising a fibrous foundation of rag felt, asbestos fiber, Wood liber or mixed bers into which has preferably been incorporated a suitable waterproofing material such as asphalt. The slabs are cut from the sheet board formed on a paper-making machine, the fibers thereof thus being felted and compacted so as to impart to the board the strength, density and other desirable characteristics of a roong shingle. The Waterproofing material may be incorporated into the furnish from which the board is made, or the board may first be made and then be suitably saturated with the Waterproofing material.

Waterproof board when made on any one of the Well known-types of paper machines is of a uniform thickness and shingles as commonly cut therefrom therefore possess certain undesirable characteristics. Such shingles when laid in overlapping courses leave spaces above the upper edges of shingles between the overlying shingles and the roof. They must be somewhat flexible to permit them to be bent over the upper edges of and to lie flat against the surfaces of the shingles beneath them. Flexible shingles are liable to be raised by the wind permitting the rain and snow to beat in under them and rendering them liable to be torn of. both of which decrease the Weather-proofing capabilities of the roof. Moreover, such shingles must be made relatively thin in order to provide the necessary degree of flexibility and hence present a nat unsubstantial appearance on the roof.

Tapered shingles obviate the above mentioned difliculties since they may be made more rigid and thicker at their exposed edges than can the usual shingles cut from brous felted material and give a more pleasing and substantial appearance to the roof.

The object of this invention is to produce a tapered shingle advantageously and economically from a waterproof sheet board made on a papermaking machine whereby paper-making machine speed in manufacturing can be combined` with theadvantages incident to tapered shingles. This object is attained by cutting the waterproof board into slabs and splitting each slab along a diagonal plane so as to form two tapered shingles from each slab.

Other advantages are attained by this invention as will be subsequently pointed out.

In Canada January (Cl. 10S-8) On the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 represents a slab of material before splitting.

Figure 2 is a similar view, dotted lines showing the plane along which the slab is to be split.

Figure 3 shows in perspective the two shingles formed by so splitting the slab.

l Figure 4 illustrates the appearance of a shingle with its portion exposed to the Weather when laid, coated with a layer of asphalt.

Figure 5 shows the exposed portion of the shingle surfaced with a layer of4 grit on the asphalt coating.

Figure 6 illustrates the appearance of the shingle with its exposed portion coated with colored asphalt or similar material.

Figure '7 shows the shingle copper-plated on its exposed portion.

The slab 1 in Figure l may be cut from a sheet board produced on any one of the well known types of paper making machine. As well known in the paper making industry, paper or board which is made on paper-making machines has certain well defined characteristics. Such paper or board is composed of relatively short fibers S0 which are deposited while suspended in water on the wire screen in the machine in such a way as to lie in all directions in the sheet and to be interfelted, the Water passing through the meshes of the screen. Thus, in the art the term water-laid is frequently employed to designate fiber sheets formed on a paper making machine.

As a result of the interlacng or felting of the bers on the paper-making machine, the sheet is vastly stronger than a pressed or molded sheet of the same thickness and material would be. There is also a tendency on the part of the bers which are deposited on the wire. screen to arrange themselves in such a way that a predominating number of them extend in a general direction approximating the motion ofthe material through the machine. This tends to give a certain amount of grain to the paper or board, the presence of which is readily noticeable when one attempts to tear tissue paper for example in more than one direction. The board should preferably be of a thickness equal to the sum of the thicknesses of the butt and thin ends of the shingle to be produced, and the area of a broad face F of a slab cut therefrom should be equal to the surface area of a broad face of said shingle.

As illustrated in Figure 2 the slab is skived on a diagonal plane determined by diagonals AC and BD intersecting the end E Aon the line CD i parallel and relatively close to one face and intersecting the end E' on the line AB parallel and relatively close to its opposite face, the distance from the line CD to one face being preferably equal to the distance from line AB to the opposite face and determining the thickness of the thin end of the shingle, and the distance from line CD to the opposite face being equal to the distance from AB to the one face and determining the butt end thickness. This skiving or splitting which may be accomplished as by the use of suitable means, as for example, a rotating disk or band knife, simultaneously forms two shingles, 2 and 3, of equal dimensions as shown in Figure 3 by a single operation without producing any trimmings or waste material. The plane of the cut is at an angle to the direction in which the fibers were laid down and interfelted during the sheet board formation on the paper making machine so that the fibers are cut across, exposing the cut ends on the broad surfaces formed by the cut which may thus be rougher than the uncut surfaces. As a result of skiving the sheet at an angle to the direction in which the fibers were laid down during the formation of the sheet, the predominating ber direction is the same as that of the taper caused by the sklving cut. This face of each shingle presents a pleasing appearance and is also desirable if a subsequent coating of the shingle is later resorted to as will presently be described.

As shown in Figure 4 the portion of the shin- `gle exposed to the weather when laid may be coated with relatively high melting point asphalt, e. g. blown asphalt or other bituminous material, as by dipping into such material while in a molten condition. This material may be colored if desired as indicated in Figure 6. This coating seals the fibers against access by moisture, affording greater protection against deterioration due to weathering, and somewhat thickens the exposed butt ends. The increased thickness of the butt ends gives a more pleasing and. substantial appearance to the roof. The roughened surface of the shingle resulting from the skiving of the slab makes possible a good lbond between the shingle body and the asphalt coating, the ber ends at the surface of the shingle being firmly embedded in the asphalt which grips them tenaciously, the material between the bers being permitted to coalesce with and thus unite integrally with the coating. 1f desired the shingle may be further surfaced with a layer of crushed slate or other grit G partially embedded therein after the coating operation, as shown in Figure 5, giving an ornamental appearance to the finished product, increasing its fire resistant properties, imparting additional rigidity thereto, affording a more adequate protection against deterioration due to moisture and weather, and further increasing the butt end thick.

ness of the shingle.

Or the exposed portion of the shingle may be coated with metal such as copper, as by the electric deposition of such metal thereon, as shown in Figure '7. The metal coating may be applied directly to the exposed portion of the uncoated shingle, to this portion after it has been dipped into suitable bituminous material, or to this portion after it has been dipped into suitable material and surfaced with crushed grit. The surface to be coated may be rendered conductive by covering it with graphite, carbon. or other electro-conductive material. Instead of thus producing an electro-conductive surface, one may,

if it is desired to deposit the metal directly on the fibrous material, incorporate into the furnish from which the board is made an approximate amount of conductive material, such as carbon, so that the shingles formed therefrom are sufficiently electro-conductive to permit electro-deposition of .copper or other suitable metal on their surfaces.

I claim:

1. A shingle comprising a sheet of wet-felted fibrous material tapered in thickness, said material presenting cut ends of interfelted bers on one of its broad faces.

2. A shingle comprising a sheet of Wet-felted brous material presenting out ends of interfelted fibers on one of its broad faces.

3. A shingle comprising a sheet of water-laid felt tapering in thickness from one edge to the other and presenting cut ends of interfelted bers on one of its broad faces, and a bituminous coating covering the portion of said face which is exposed to the weather when laid on a roof.

4. A shingle comprising a flexible sheet of water-laid felt tapering in thickness from oneedge to the other and presenting cut fiber ends at one of the broad faces thereof, and a coat of waterproofing material on the portion of said face 1o be exposed to the weather when the shingle is laid on a roof.

. HENRY C. AVERY. 

